A catheter is a thin tube extruded from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. By modifying the material or adjusting the way catheters are manufactured, it is possible to tailor catheters for cardiovascular, urological, gastrointestinal, neurovascular, and ophthalmic applications. Catheters can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Functionally, they allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, access by surgical instruments, and also perform wide variety of other tasks depending on the type of catheter. The process of inserting a catheter is referred to as catheterization.
An embolism is the event of the lodging of an embolus (a detached intravascular mass capable of clogging a blood vessel at a site far from its origin) into a narrow blood vessel, which causes a blockage (vascular occlusion) in a distant part of the body.